Bank's valuation or structural survey First??

[HairyPorter]

Eek! We're first time buyers so apologies for the daft questions!

I'm undecided as to which is the less risky option here if the sale falls through- we're buying a period property (so want a full structural survey), but the house appears to be in a good condition. Does it make more sense to do the survey first (in case something major turns up which affect what we are prepared to pay), or do the mortgage application / valuation first (the house is in an 'up and coming' area so I'm concerned the banks valuation may be less than the market value)? Or do everything simultaneously?!

TIA!

I'd normally do it simultaneously - the bank will offer valuation/home buyer's/full structural as options.

Given that the valuation might be less than your offer, I'd get thst done first to see how much I might have to come down. It might make you decide whether you want to continue if you're well away on price. Also, bank valuations are generslly "free" so you're not psying out too much too soon.

Banks valuation first. If they aren't going to lend you the money you need to buy it, there's no point in forking out for structural survey.

Thank you! Also do I need to instruct solicitors simultaneously? Would it be possible to get the mortgage application and valuation done, and then assuming there are no issues, get the survey, and then instruct solicitors?
I'm just really nervous about there being issues with the valuation or survey that lead to things falling apart, and don't want to end up losing lots of money unnecessarily on fees!

If I was selling and someone didn't instruct solicitors pdq, I'd assume that they weren't interested. It's the first move and if it took longer than a few days, I'd tell them the house was going back on the market.

Yy, instruct solicitor straight away otherwise the vendor will think you're flaky. If it ends up falling through immediately, you won't have incurred much in the way of solicitor's fees. Just wait to get them to do searches until after the survey results.

I think it's usually cheaper to get the mortgage co to do a valuation and structural survey at the same time. But do check prices.

Good luck!

Your mortgage lender will ask what level of survey you would.like. you can request a full survey. I have had a three wait for the survey, my buyer only waited a few days.for his!

The ea I am buying.with didn't take the house off rightmove until I instructed a solicitor.

Thanks! Will instruct solicitor and tell them to go slow till valuation and survey are done. I was under the impression that banks only offer a homebuyers survey? My mortgage broker seemed to think we'd need to organize our own structural survey. Is this not true?

The vendor has been slow with instructing solicitors- it's een 3 weeks since offer accepted and she's just instructed solicitors so I don't feel at all guilty about taking things slow!

You generally need to organise your own survey. A mortgage valuation survey is just for the bank. They may offer to extend it to cover a homebuyers survey too (for an additional cost). You do tend to pay for the Valuation survey but it's added to your mortgage so not everybody realises they pay for them.

We got our mortgage from Nationwide, we paid extra to have a homebuyers and could have paid even more for a full structural survey.